Look and Listen

Biography

Laurie Schnebly never cleans her house. That's how she has time to write, speak to writers' groups, and teach monthly online classes on topics like "Tips From Madison Avenue: The Selling Synopsis" "Creating Your Hero's Fatal Flaw" "Making Rejection WORK For You" and "Q is for Query, A is for Aaaack!" She gained her experience writing for Silhouette Special Edition, publishing six novels with them before turning to non-fiction. Now she uses her master's in counseling to help fiction writers create likable, believable characters with built-in fatal flaws that automatically lead to conflict with other characters...and with themselves. An advertising copywriter by day (that's how she knows about writing to sell ANY product, from bikes to burgers to books), Laurie lives with her husband and son in Phoenix. She also enjoys trips to the red-rock country of Sedona, which was named for her great-grandmother Sedona Schnebly.

Inspiration

When my advertising day job yielded me the prize of a brand new, bright blue IBM Selectric typewriter, I knew I had to stay late at work for the fun of writing fiction. I started with characters my sister and I created as children, when we used to make families of paper dolls. As we grew, so did their stories...and adventures like "finding the lost kitten" turned to stories of "finding true love." So when I saw a workshop advertised by the Romance Writers of America, I figured maybe I could learn something. Not that I'd ever written -- much less read -- a romance novel, but heck, the workshop was free! So I showed up and was amazed at the level of craft shown by these writers. I joined RWA and was taken aback when my first mentor asked (after reading my first manuscript), "Laurie, have you READ many romance novels?" I was embarrassed to admit that I hadn't, but she very diplomatically suggested that I might want to try some. So I went to the library and checked out a stack of 13, figuring that'd be enough for a lifetime. I read all 13, and the two I really liked were both from Silhouette Special Edition. So that's who I targeted, and who wound up publishing my first (and subsequent) books.